Soccer: Crusaders advance in PDL playoffs

Saturday

Jul 28, 2007 at 2:00 AM

OCEAN CITY, NJ — The Cape Cod Crusaders broke open the game with four second-half goals to defeat the red card-scarred Ocean City Barons in the Premier Development League Eastern Conference soccer semifinals last night, 5-0.

CAPE COD TIMES

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — The Cape Cod Crusaders broke open the game with four second-half goals to defeat the red card-scarred Ocean City Barons in the Premier Development League Eastern Conference soccer semifinals last night, 5-0.

The Crusaders (10-1-6) will take on the Brooklyn Knights (10-4-3) at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Ocean City for the conference championship.

Brooklyn, which finished second to the Crusaders in the Northeast Division, defeated Hampton Roads in a penalty kick shootout in yesterday's first conference semifinal.

Ocean City's chances last night were hampered early when two key players were ejected from the match.

First, in the 21st minute, leading scorer Byron Carmichael drew a red card for arguing a foul. About 90 seconds later, midfielder Neil Holloway was given the gate and the Crusdaders held a two-man advantage.

Cape Cod finally took advantage in the 36th minute when Stanley Nyzamba found Edens Chery with room to operate on the left. Chery made it 1-0.

Ocean City had a chance to reply when Kyle Evans was fouled in the area and the Barons were given a penalty kick. With Holloway and Carmichael unavailable, Jeremy Ortiz took the penalty kick, and Crusaders keeper James Thorpe made the save.

An Ocean City shot off the rebound went wide left.

Chery netted his second goal of the night five minutes into the second half. Jason Massie followed with a chip shot from some 50 yards out to make it 3-0 at the 10-minute mark. Dan Stratford and Nyzamba scored later in the half to complete the scoring.

"It was a game where the referee made the difference," Crusaders coach Paul Baber said. "The first card was a bit harsh, to be honest, but we were able to take advantage of it and are happy with the result."

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